Tanks are used for storing or transporting flammable fluids such as gasoline, diesel fuel and other petroleum products. The fluids are transferred from the storage tanks to recipient tanks. Tanks can be mounted on tanker trucks or located underground at service stations. Tanker trucks are typically filled with the fluids using pumping equipment at the loading racks of marketing terminals, and underground storage tanks are typically gravity-filled from the trucks.
Asphalts also are transferred in a similar fashion. Asphalts are well known and widely used in a variety of products. Asphalts are primarily composed of high molecular weight hydrocarbons and invariably contain minor amounts of low molecular weight hydrocarbons. At asphalt terminals the tanker trucks top load when loading product. This situation creates an opportunity for the tanker to overfill and thus release product on the ground. Often a conventional overfill probe prevents overfill but also has many false trips throughout each load and have proven to be often unreliable.
A conventional prior art probe is shown in the drop tube assemblies disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,935,387 and 7,225,840.
We also have discovered that a rapid temperature response probe would prevent an overfill and also would be a reliable solution.
We have discovered a temperature probe that has a very fast response time. We have found that placing a transmitter on the probe uniquely allows a PLC to collect data.